Olson's torrid HR pace ties Ohtani, knocks down Braves mark

PITTSBURGH -- As the Braves deal with their starting pitching woes, they can enjoy watching Matt Olson and Ronald Acuña Jr. do things that have never been done before.

This dynamic duo wasn’t able to overcome the sixth-inning troubles Bryce Elder encountered in a 7-5 loss to the Pirates on Thursday afternoon at PNC Park. But Olson reached the 40-homer mark far sooner than anybody else in Braves history and now finds himself tied with Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead.

“He’s been unbelievable,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “To me, he should be garnering more praise than he’s getting for the season he is having. It’s his entire game and how he plays. It’s been very special.”

The Braves have produced MLB’s second-worst starting pitching ERA (6.15) since the All-Star break, and they have watched their starters allow 31 earned runs while totaling just 25 1/3 innings over the past six games.

Still, they’ve maintained MLB’s best record while splitting 24 games since the break. This is certainly not sustainable. Nor is it likely to remain a trend, especially once Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Elder regain some consistency.

In the meantime, the Braves can continue to lean on Acuña, who could soon become the first player to ever hit 30-plus homers and steal 60-plus bases in a season, and Olson, who is now one of 13 players to ever hit 40 homers and tally 100 RBIs through his team’s first 113 games.

Babe Ruth accounted for four of the 19 times this has now been done.

“Some of the names that are brought up, it’s cool to be mentioned in the same air,” Olson said. “I don’t really look at it like that. I’m just going out and trying to win games. That kind of stuff falls in place for me.”

Olson’s solo homer sparked a two-run third that gave Elder a 4-0 lead. The blast over the center-field wall also made the first baseman the fastest to reach 40 homers in Braves history. Andruw Jones previously held this distinction. He hit his 40th homer during Atlanta’s 126th game of the 2005 season.

That’s the same year Jones ended up with 51 homers. Olson is on pace to hit 57 homers with 144 RBIs. Hugh Duffy set the franchise record when he drove in 145 runs for the Boston Beaneaters in 1894. The Modern Era (since 1900) franchise record was set when Eddie Mathews tallied 135 RBIs for the Milwaukee Braves in 1953, a season before Hank Aaron made his MLB debut.

“It’s crazy that [Olson’s season] isn’t getting talked about, because Ronnie is doing what he is doing,” Elder said. “When I was sitting in [the clubhouse] I saw it flash on the television screen, ‘Olson 40.’ That’s pretty impressive, especially on Aug. 10.”

The most remarkable development during Olson’s season has been his ability to drastically reduce his strikeout rate while actually improving his home run rate.

Olson entered June 15 hitting .228 with an .830 OPS, a 29.9 percent strikeout rate and a 14.4 at-bats per home run ratio.

In the 45 games that have followed, Olson has hit .327 with a 1.211 OPS, an 18.7 percent strikeout rate and a 7.6 at-bats per home run ratio.

“I feel like it’s a product of putting the ball in play earlier in the count,” Olson said. “I feel like my two-strike approach is the same as it’s always been. Nothing has changed there, but I’m getting into fewer two-strike counts. When you are fouling off those pitches you should hit earlier in the count, you’re going to put yourself in a hole and strike out more frequently.”

To put Olson’s past couple months in perspective, here is what other top MVP candidates Acuña, Ohtani and Freddie Freeman have done since June 15.

Acuña: .350 batting average, 12 HR, 1.041 OPS
Freeman: .364 BA, 10 HR, 1.071 OPS
Ohtani: .317 BA, 19 HR, 1.217 OPS

Olson has homered more frequently than the other MVP candidates and his OPS within this span is only trumped by Ohtani, who remains the heavy favorite for the American League MVP.

When the National League MVP battle has been discussed, Acuña has deservedly garnered much of the attention. This certainly hasn’t bothered his low-key Braves teammate who could make this competition very interesting down the stretch.

Asked if he was bothered his season wasn’t getting as much attention, Olson said. “I actually kind of like it. We should keep it that way.”